Changes In The Juvenile Justice System

Most will often wonder if there is actually a future in the juvenile justice system and if so what does it include? Today the juvenile system is known as a weak system that does not actually provide much help for juveniles. Although, this system is effective for a few juveniles, it does not work for them all. The juvenile justice system is the primary system that they use on juveniles who are caught committing crime. The system is put into place in hopes it will deter juveniles away from future crimes to keep their life on track. If the juvenile justice system had a few improvements and more people supported it then it could become a very successful system. With the system already making modifications, there is still a few changes left that

“One element of the juvenile justice system in the United States that often presents problems is the flow of delinquency cases from the beginning through the end of the system” (Rubin, 2001, p. 3). Ruben then went on to call each juvenile justice agency to examine their case movement and what to do in order to improve it to get the system to work much better overall. In juvenile court every year not all cases reported to the court actually go through the court system. “In an average year, about 20% of the cases referred to a juvenile court intake officer are dismissed and another 25% or so are handled informally. The remaining cases go through formal proceedings” (Michon, 2016). For the future, people think that all juveniles need to go to court, if they go to court the first time, they may never be back a second

“When congressional lawmakers last reauthorized the landmark Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, in fiscal year 2002, they gave about $547 million for juvenile justice. Today, federal spending on juvenile justice totals less than half that amount — about $251 million” (Gately, 2015). Although this may look like a big amount of money to any citizen it is still not enough for our juvenile system. Some say this amount falls short of the needs at a critical stage for federal juvenile justice funding. If we can spend a few more millions dollars each year to deter juveniles from committing more crimes in the future then we are only going to better our country and communities as a whole. Things are going to be safer, facilities will hopefully have less people and we will make this money back in the long run creating a safer environment to live